A conventional fixed-wing unmanned aircraft (UA) is an aircraft which flies without a pilot on board. Such a UA typically holds fuel within its wings.
One conventional approach to holding fuel within UA wings (hereinafter referred to as the “wet-wing approach”) involves storing fuel within the UA wings themselves, i.e., seams, rivet holes, joints, and other openings are sealed to enable the hollow cavities of the UA wings to store fuel directly. Another conventional approach to holding fuel within UA wings (hereinafter referred to as the “rigid tank approach”) involves placing rigid (or hard) tanks into the UA wings and storing the fuel in the rigid tanks. Yet another conventional approach to holding fuel within UA wings (hereinafter referred to as the “bladder approach”) involves placing fuel bladders into the UA wings and storing the fuel in the fuel bladders.